Darkness, my friend
by free flyer
Summary: Set just after season five. Alone in the dark. There's something out there.
1. Dark beginings

Darkness my friend 

Chapter one.

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"_**Two more are entering slipstream, and are in pursuit"**_

"_**They're firing."**_

"_**Fuel reserves down to twenty percent. We can't keep this up much longer."**_

"_**Yeah, thanks! I'm already well aware of that!"**_

"_**Dammit! That last one took out our weapons!"**_

"_**Fuel reserves down to fifteen percent we have to exit slip stream. Now!"**_

"_**Ok just cool it a second, We're not dead yet. I'm going to try something…"**_

"_**What? Oh no. Bad idea. Bad. Bad Idea Beka!"**_

"_**You have a better one? Fasten your seat belts."**_

----

Beka was slowly dragged back to consciousness by the far-off throbbing of a dull ache somewhere around her midriff, but it seemed too far away for her to worry about now. She was given the strange but rather pleasant sensation of floating, she knew she must have been drugged, but somehow it just didn't seem to matter.

She dimly wondered why she couldn't open her eyes, then realised that they were open. The room, or at least she thought it was a room, having vaguely remembered hearing a door slam, was pitch black. It seemed to be completely devoid of all light and was deathly silent. She tried to sit up but her stomach muscles wouldn't respond, with nothing else to focus on the small distant pain in her lower abdomen returned, willing her arms to work she touched it and was unsurprised to find her hand came away wet, grogily she decided to stay put. For the time being at least.

The darkness was starting to play tricks on her eyes, so she closed them again. Or at least she thought she had, there was no way to tell.

"Hello? Any body there?" Beka tried to clear her throat, it sounded thick and croaky, however this only resulted in a coughing fit, which left a coppery taste in here mouth. "Aww crap, that can't be good"

What happened? It was getting harder and harder to focus, she kept seeing flashes of colour and movement even though there was nothing to be seen. With a tremendous effort she forced herself to remember what had happened.

On the maru with Rhade…Rommie was there too…there was a drift…Fighting…there's always fighting, why is there always fighting, just once I'd like to go some place where there's no fighting…

Then the thought was gone, and the pain was back, it seemed to be spreading, the drug must be wearing off, Beka thought absently, As she lay there she could feel the floor becoming harder, the air becoming colder, and slowly but surely, as her senses became more acute so did the hallucinations.


	2. Stranger in the night

"…_**Every one ok?"**_

"_**I think I'm going to be sick…"**_

"_**All systems functioning normally, which is a hell of a lot more than I can say for the Maru…"**_

"…_**Ok, then lets refuel and get the fuck outta here"**_

"_**Language!"**_

"_**You'd be pissed if it was your ship."**_

"There's a drift not far from here, we can refuel and contact the Andromeda from there…"

This time there was no gentle lull back into reality for Beka, she woke up without even being aware she had been asleep. The pain in her stomach had returned with a vengeance, causing her breath to come in ragged gasps. Recently voices had begun accompanying the images that danced before her eyes. But she had no way of knowing how recent, "recently" was or indeed how long she had been here at all. Time was just a word to her now, it had no meaning, it was just a concept, an idea.

"Pull yourself together Valentine don't loose it now."

"Hello?" there came new voice from the darkness.

"Who's there?"

"The name's Maddox, but every one calls me Max, or er, Maddi if you like."

"Before you start telling me your life story, I gotta know. Are you real or a figment of my imagination?"

"Erm…real, I think."

"You think?"

"Well… how do I know _you're_ real?"

"Because I…" Beka broke off in a coughing fit.

"Ok, I'm convinced! Don't kill yourself…You still there? …Hello?"

"Rommie…" Beka murmured weakly.

"Rommie? Is that your name? Are you hurt? Talk to me, please, I've been on my own so long, don't leave me now."

"…name's Beka…"

"Ok Beka, are you hurt?"

"Stomach, I think it's bleeding. Not sure if I bit my tongue, or I'm coughing up blood…can't breath." She gasped.

There was a long pause before the voice answered, "Ok Beka, I'm going to try and get to you but I need you to keep talking so I can follow your voice ok? Tell me about yourself, where are you from? What species are you?"

"Space, human."

"Good, do you have a job, or boyfriend? Keep talkin'." Maddi, which Beka could now make out as male, sounded much closer.

"Pilot, I'm a pilot." Beka's voice became stronger as she was able to organise her thoughts.

"Really? Me too, or at least I was." He seemed to be right by her leg now.

"Rommie, and Rhade, I don't know where they are, I've gotta find them."

"There's nothing you can do for the moment, so just lie still…er, I can't see where I'm putting my hands so er, you know, sorry if I accidentally touch your…er"

"Wound? Or something?" Beka offered helpfully.

"Or something" he agreed.

Beka jumped as she felt a hand lightly touch her leg.

"Now do you believe I'm real?"

"I guess so. I thought I was going crazy."

"That's the general idea, this is a sensory deprivation chamber, first they send you crazy, then they reprogram you."

"Why."

"To get information, to use you for something else. I dunno, I suppose I'll find out when they break me."

"Who are _they_?"

"I'm afraid I know about as much as you. But I'll tell you what, whoever _they_ are, screwed up big time. I mean my senses aren't exactly deprived, at the moment, I may not be able to see but I can still smell and feel the cold, and now I can hear your voice too. It's gonna take a long time to tip me over the edge…"

Beka cried out as Maddi's hand finally reached her stomach.

"Sorry!" He said quickly, somewhat panicked.

"How. Bad. Is it?" Beka asked through clenched teeth.

"Erm, there's a lot of blood, I don't think the wound is very big, but I don't know how deep it is."

"I could have told you that." Said Beka making an attempt at sarcasm but not quite pulling it off

"I'm going to try and stop the bleeding." Maddi answered uncertainly.

"With what?"

"My shirt's quite clean. I think, although my jacket may be another story."

"You can't do that you'll freeze."

"I'll survive."

There was a ripping noise, a few moments later Beka felt soft fabric gently being pressed to the wound.

"I'm gonna have to lift you up to tie the bandage"

She felt his hands on her shoulders.

"Can you lift your arms around my neck?" he asked as he checked them for bleeding as well.

Beka was pleased to find she could

_Maybe it's not as bad as I thought, maybe it's just a scratch and my mind's just playing tricks on me again because I've got nothing else to focus on. Because I _had_ nothing else to focus on _she corrected as she felt the sinewy muscle of Maddox's back and the prominent bones, it felt like this man hadn't eaten in quite some time

"How long have you been here?" she asked suddenly curious.

"Well put it this way I was clean shaven when I first woke up here."

It was then that Beka became aware of his long shoulder length hair tickling her arms. She had to clench her teeth to keep from screaming as he gingerly lifted her up. Once in an upright position she felt him wrapping lengths of cloth around her midriff, she could also feel his face against hers and with it a well developed beard. Slowly with his work finished he laid her back down.

"As long as we keep talking to each other we'll stave off insanity for a little longer. I'm guessing that stab wound pierced your diaphragm, which is why you're struggling to breath. Try not to move too much. I felt swelling over your ribs, either bruised or broken…" Beka could almost hear him shrugging "it's not a good idea to move about." He finished lamely.

_So much for it being just a scratch_ Beka thought wryly, then all of a sudden a memory as clear and vivid as if it had happened only moments ago flashed in to her mind.

"Stab wound?" she asked sharply.

"Just a guess," Maddi' replied puzzled "why? Do you remember something?"

"I wasn't stabbed… I was shot."


	3. As the dust settles

"I've sent a distress beacon to the Andromeda via the drift's communication Network, I estimate it should take about 36 hours for them to receive the signal and come and pick us up"

"_**Any signs of our attackers?"**_

"_**No, We lost them. You nearly killed us, but you lost them."**_

"_**Don't mention it."**_

"_**Oh, and Beka?"**_

"_**Yeah?"**_

"_**Please don't do that ever again."**_

"_**No one lives forever Rhade."**_

"_**Perhaps, but I'd like to try."**_

"No one lives forever Rhade…what does she know, Dylan's managed pretty well so far. I'd settle for even…"

"Rhade, if you haven't got something constructive to say shut up and hold still" Rommie snapped as she popped Rhade's dislocated arm back into it's socket. As his scream simmered down into an angry growl, she surveyed the destruction around them.

Rhade took a deep breath as the pain in his shoulder settled into a bearable throb and also looked around at what once, supposedly, was a bar. A smile danced across his lips as he tried to count the number of bars he had helped demolish since joining the crew.

"Rhade!" Rommie called urgently. She was knelt by something in the debris.

"Beka! You found her!" The smile was lost as relief flooded his features. He hauled himself off the floor and staggered to where Rommie was knelt. As he got closer he saw a

slick of blood running down the wall to a pool at the androids feet. It was already dry.

"Is it Beka's…" he let the question hang already knowing the answer.

"Yes, they must have taken her."

"Then she's still alive."

Rommie didn't answer, she bent to pick something up. A small pin, with the emblem of a tree on it.

"Gen knights"

The entrance door flew off its hinges as a well aimed thrust kick, followed by a well armed captain came blazing through.

Dylan, closely followed by Trance and Doyle, looked around sheepishly before replacing his force lance into its holster.

"Guess my timing was a little off today." he said grinning, but stopped when he saw the look on the faces of the other two officers. He looked from them to the back wall and then to the blood on the floor. An icy hand gripped his stomach.

"Where's Beka?"


End file.
